Diseased and broken bones can be repaired using grafts made from a patient's skin cells

Diseased and broken bones can be repaired using grafts made from a patient's skin cells, scientists have shown.

Researchers in the U.S. reprogrammed skin to become stem cells that were coaxed to form early stage bone precursors.

The immature bone cells were then ‘seeded’ onto a three-dimensional scaffold and stimulated to grow with nutrients.

Over a period of 12 weeks, grafts placed under the skin of mice matured into fully formed bone tissue with the beginnings of a blood supply.

Crucially, there was no sign of the treatment generating tumours.

‘Following on from these findings, we will be able to create tailored bone grafts, on demand, for patients without any immune rejection issues,’ said Susan Solomon, chief executive of the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) whose scientists carried out the work.